Monday, 29 June 2009

From a former student

I was reading about Lockerbie today - one of the earliest news events that I remember - it was 21st december 1988, and I was only five. I think the same year there had been the Piper Alpha disaster, when a North Sea rig explosion killed more than a hundred people. Megrahi is appealing again. The most memorable law lecture I ever had was Robert Black telling us that he thought the Libyan ex head of security was innocent. The crucial evidence, from a Maltese shopkeeper, was simply not reliable. And Black was better positioned than most to judge. What seems sure is this: the action was not that of one man, acting off his own bat. A state - Libya? - was at work. But why did the US not go crazy then - given 180 of their citizens died. How is it that Colonel Gaddafi has managed to re-paint his international image in a credible light, when by implication - if Megrahi was guilty, the big man must have known? And if Black is right and it wasn't Megrahi - could it have been another group entirely? What is clear is that it couldn't possibly achieve anything - not like hostage taking which at least can have a purpose of dealmaking - this was just an act of brutality - and no one ever said they were responsible for it. Isn't Megrahi just a convenient scapegoat? Will the whole truth ever come out?

[The above is a post dated 28 June 2009 on the tinoscandle blog.]

6 comments:

  1. Some of the truth can be made to come out if enough people campaign for an inquiry.

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  2. This is a comment on the 'tinoscandle' blog by an American relative of a Lockerbie victim: "Frank said...

    "Your memorable law professor has been consistently wrong for two decades.The evidence that he declared to be 'unreliable' was accepted by three senior Scottish trial judges, and five more appellate judges, and will no doubt have the same result from the current appeal. How can anyone still listed to this dope? There was overwhelming evidence of the guilt of Mr. Megrahi. Black needs to move on, find some other dead horse to beat, and get a life.
    Frank Duggan, President
    Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc."

    After the Appeal Court reconvenes in Edinburgh on 7 July 2009, Mr Duggan could well find himself eating a rather large portion of humble pie.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. One wonders if Mr Duggan has indulged himself by purchasing a copy of that rather excellent work on the subject of the Lockerbie tragedy by Ashton and Ferguson: 'Cover-up of Convenience'. I suspect not. Were he to have done so, I imagine that he might not have been quite so liberal with his gratuitous insults directed at Professor Black.

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  5. I found this rather extraordinary quote in the Sun from Dumfries MSP Elaine Murray, who represents Lockerbie.

    “There are questions as to why the Libyans are so keen to get a transfer. It may be there are things which could come out in court the Libyans don’t want to come out.”

    I asked the MSP if she could explain on what grounds she had made the comment. She responded that she had not spoken to the Sun.

    I then asked if the statement attributed to her and reported in the Sun on 7 May 2009 was correct and if she had made the statement, could she tell me on what basis she had made it.

    She responded she had had a conversation with a reporter several weeks ago, which was considerably more extensive than this very selective quote.

    I asked her for the third time on what basis she had made the statement but to no avail. She stated that she had explained the circumstances already.

    So I'm none the wiser and will conclude that this was an attempt to smear; a similar tactic to the smearing of Dr Swire by Fraser. Hopefully it wasn't an attempt to incite racial hatred.

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